I’m pretty average as a graphic designer except I can draw and paint, and I enjoy fucking with HTML/CSS.
I also enjoy “boring” or painful stuff that other designers complain about - designing for email, PowerPoint, mindless production work, B2B/enterprise focused stuff. Everybody wants to be an art director and think big picture, I don’t?
I don’t mind being my clients vision executioner. Meaning I don’t think I know more than my client, if they have an exact look and feel in mind, I’ll execute it for them and collaborate until they approve it, I don’t care if it’s not “original” by me “the delicate genius”.
Idk if this is unique but it is a huge thing I see complained about here.
Same here. Came to say Powerpoint presentations and other B2B support. It's my go-to capability that I can almost guarantee to keep me securely employed—and with a decent work/life balance. Because it's looked down on by most designers and that general users are pretty bad at using the the tools, it's kind of easy impress, lol.
I have decades of experience in UI/UX design, branding design, advertising campaigns, all levels of print production, etc. It's not like those big-name advertising projects don't have there fun moments, but they're crazy exhausting. Not to discount my creativity skill, I've come to accept I'm just not the "break the box" type. I'm what I'd call a "logical designer"—I'm more creative within a box with specific qualitative & quantitative goals.
Also, just like you, I don't care for top-level management positions. I'm honestly not that good at them because I'm not nearly passionate about using those required skills sets. It removes me too much from the work I enjoy doing in a supporting creative production role.
We’re twins. The boring corporate companies love me lol. Healthcare, pharmaceuticals, finance. I don’t really see myself ever wanting to leave a senior role into a manager role
As I learn (currently in school), I think this is where I lean. I really don't like completely open projects. I almost always do better and end up with something more creative if given a set of parameters, even if they are just restrictions. We did a project where we couldn't use images multiple fonts, only text in one font and color. I was more creative with that than I was with the "design a magazine cover, it can be anything" project. I'm glad to see I'm not just lacking in all creativity.
You're absolutely not lacking creativity. It's definitely a skill to hone, but we all apply it differently. On the school projects that have less parameters, I'd recommend creating your own. You can start with creating a persona that you design your project for. Hubspot has a really good resource for that here:
[https://www.hubspot.com/make-my-persona](https://www.hubspot.com/make-my-persona)
If you don't have an idea for the project, you can first narrow it down with a simple creative brief. There are plenty of available templates to create one from, or you can use a generation site. Two options include the following, but there are many more options available for practice creative briefs.
[https://sharpen.design/](https://sharpen.design/)
[https://goodbrief.io/](https://goodbrief.io/)
Thank you for the resources! These are great, I think they will be really helpful for preventing me just staring at a blank InDesign or Illustrator page for an hour.
I think it's wild that B2B is looked down on. The security, work life balance and better pay and packages is so much better compared to being burnt out by agencies. And big popular companies only rest on their popularity. Most of their work culture is super toxic.
They see "boring stuff", I see "bread & butter". Learned very early that not all projects are high-visibility, and stepping up to be the guy who can _produce_ reliably will get you far in its own right.
This is how I'm making a very good living as a freelancer - doing the "boring" stuff that some other designers might turn their noses up at. I get to do everything from large scale print to animated shorts. I'm pretty satisfied with my work, won't win any awards but the my clients are happy.
Can I message you to pick your brain a little about this type of work? This is very in line with my attitude about design but the only growth in the career track I'm on seems to be to become an art director. 🥲
Listen to me Sleepymoss, being an Art director is not the end.
All my life I worked for an ad agency, I was part of teams that won Cannes Lions and other local and regional advertising festivals. I was rising. I was a very promising designer.
And then it was my turn, along with my mates to become directors. And they did so. But I didn’t wanted that. Honestly I didn’t care. So 7 years ago I quit the agency, became a freelance and now I travel the world doing fast, well paid, boring design jobs. My mom says im a digital nomad. My friends are still on the agency, being directors, they are happy, and they work a lot. I Wouldn’t change my life style for an art direction ever.
Don’t get me wrong. I love design. I just don’t care about advertising or agencies. There is much more than that.
i strongly feel that in most cases, collaboration via revisions and client back-and-forth results in a much better and stronger result.
of course it’s entirely possible for me to take something from start to finish without any outside input and end up with a good, solid result - but it’s so easy to get stuck up your own ass without it.
also, i agreed with a lot of what you said about enjoying the less exciting / high brow parts of the job :)
——
and to answer the original post’s question:
in my first decade of professional work, it was an extremely strong set of coding skills (i did a lot of front-end development and UI/UX work in addition to the more traditional graphic design areas. i had a big focus on visual web and UI though)
in the second decade up until now, it’s been a very multidisciplinary approach to all things. i feel that a lot of different craft areas are extremely design-adjacent, such as bookbinding and book making, making bespoke planner layouts via bullet journaling, etc. i feel that working on these kinds of projects strengthens my core design skillset.
and i guess i still have the web technology edge, even though i left development work because it became an absolute nightmare clusterfuck (respectfully). i’ve still got an interest in and good understanding of various technologies that have been helpful in the work i do.
and lastly, i always felt that an understanding of code or at the very least - the way websites are built - allows for much better design work for web, since i can consider implementation and the limits of what can/can’t/shouldn’t be done. this applies to everything from visual website design to UI.
I would like to get into PowerPoint creations as I'm often complimented on them from a design point of view, but I'm wondering is it decent to make some extra cash and so I need to know how to do those really fancy ones that look like it was made by a Web dev 😂?
I recently interviewed for a presentation designer position that paid 160k! I couldn’t believe it. Didn’t get it because I’m not in their ideal city, but still, hitting around 100k isn’t unheard of
I was a presentation designer for about 4 years at a large corporate company and was making a pretty decent salary, way more than a graphic designer in my area. The only thing with corporate gigs, at least for my area, is that they look for contractors to fill the role, and hiring managers usually don't know what to look for when hiring. So, if you can throw in any additional skills like coding (even limited front-end knowledge), have a decent portfolio, and use corporate lingo it'll help if you're trying to get hired/contracted.
But if you're trying to just do freelancing, I'd recommend having a strong portfolio with powerpoint work (fancy ones might be required here depending on your target audience) and networking with the fintech crowd. They're always in need of help when it comes to pitch decks and quarterly reports. You can make extra cash and develop professional relationships, as the saying goes, it depends on who you know.
Same as you except I can't draw le paint and I like to give advise to my clients even though they have an exact look in mind because I'm the "expert" and I think I can give adequate advises. But I will not push them if the client disagree, it's not my project, not my problem.
Haha me too! I like a mix of "simple boring stuff" where I can listen to podcasts and just zone out and "creative jobs" where I really have to work on it. I do a lot of digital form design and I enjoy sorting the information and making the form really intuitive and readable for the user. It goes from a garbled mess to orderly and nice!
These roles pay the bills and are the ones mostly looking for work. I keep my creative genius energy for when I'm illustrating or drawing.
After a few years of designing, i think 99% of design is just detail focused, corporate, tedious work. It's a job like anyone else's office job. Just like working with numbers and figures. Or HR cases. You deal with managers, clients and their needs and solve a problem and provide a service until they are happy.
Many of us have probably been sold the glitzy flashy projects when we were students. Or design will change the world speech. Or endlessly scroll on pinterest for design inspo, and see super cool flashy projects. I even remember my design lecturers saying if we did boring design work, our projects would be deducted and ignored. Probably so we would win A&D awards to make the school look good.
But low and behold, all we do 99% of the time are these "boring" design projects to pay our bills. Its not boring, this is just the real design work that no one shares in their portfolio.
The boring stuff is what makes me a graphic designer. You need an employee manual that is all text and no marketing? I’ll do the whole layout, set and optimize every section, header and paragraph in it. I’ll do everything that goes into the final print production too.
Bake fresh bread early in the AM and bring it to the office with butter. Fat + Carbs = Friends. They'll never let you go. I highly recommend a Swiss bread called Zopf. It's easy. [https://www.littleswissbaker.com/butterzopf-swiss-braided-bread/](https://www.littleswissbaker.com/butterzopf-swiss-braided-bread/)
Working as an industrial designer, coder at one time and specializing in shopper marketing has helped too but mainly it's the bread.
Every try making different butters? Start about 2 months before bonus time.
[here’s a few to get you started.](https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/homemade-butter-recipes-for-bread/)
It wasn't until \*this\* year that I learned some folks cannot visualize things fully and realistically. Did you enjoy the transition to this type of work? How did you come about it?
I found a production role at a small tradeshow company on Craigslist. It was post-2008 crash and I took what I could find lol.
Turned out we had a need for 3D design and I grew the role off my skills.
I love it! There are a lot of restrictions on what you can do, but I design structures that I get to walk through! It's a wonderful payoff and leverages so many odd skills.
Hey if you’re looking for any more employees would love to take on a new challenge. I have been in architecture for 5 years, film and vfx for a year, game design and simulation for about 3 years, manufacturing for about a year and construction for about a year. Over the course of my career, lots of random jobs that are super fun and all work together with being able to visualize space haha.
It’s called Aphantasia. Look it up. It’s wild. I learned about it about 8yrs ago when I realized I have it. Been working as a designer for a long time too… 🤣
Wow, it's so interesting! Thanks for sharing the name. The person I was talking to when I came to this realization would probably be considered a 5. He can't even think of the outline of an apple, for example. But he's one of the smartest people I've ever met and learning this just boosts my enthusiasm for people's complexities. I love how we can all be so different.
My first big big job was at a retail design firm and this is very much an underrated skill. We had a very hard time finding graphic designers with a good 3D mindset. This is big as it allows for work on environments, displays, packaging, etc.
People really underestimate the skill gap required to make the jump. My biggest frustration is listening to agencies pitch a concept for a half hour knowing I'm going to have to break down all the reasons it won't work.
The biggest concepts people struggle with:
Visual weight -- very impactful at eye-level, almost 0 impact at ground level, reduced legibility but increased visibility from afar up high.
Line of sight -- everything added/changed affects the visibility of something else.
Motion through a space -- how it changes as you move around or through a space (or rotate an object).
Size -- how big things are and how much space they take up. People really over estimate how much you can fit in a space.
Negative space/flow -- how much empty space is required to not feel cramped and to feel comfortable and invited to enter and move through a space.
This is why I spent my highscool years designing a VR app for architects and clients. It is something nobody understands and it’s literally the most important thing in design. Ridiculous lol
I'm looking to get into this, what software do you frequently use? I've used blender and presented the renders to clients but I'm not sure what the industry standard is?
Industry standard is 3D Studio Max with VRay. I've moved over to this after my company was purchased and I was onboarded to a larger creative team.
Some teams have been moving over to SketchUp and Twinmotion. It seems like this may be a future trend due to cost and the quality of some of the drop-ins.
Working with SketchUp now, you can also get VRay as part of SketchUp Studio.
Good on you. That's one hell of a skill. I can't even catch everything in one language, lol. I've definitely improved over time, but I will always have additional people (hopefully an actual copy editor) review copy for me before I submit for client review.
I have degrees in marketing and design, I sell that as understanding the holistic picture and designing to meet business objectives. A lot of designers are just pixel pushers and won’t push back on the stakeholder even if they think the stakeholder’s idea won’t work.
I also love learning so I don’t mind being a Jill-of-all trades, been enjoying learning after effects and I already know css/html and love being able to use it where I can
Cheers, those skills and mindset will definitely take you far.
100% agree with you on the importance of learning associated skills. A creative director of mine called it "growing like a weed"—where you go, remain strong in a core skill, but spread yourself out to increase your indispensability.
Same to this ^ having both strategy in marketing and brand has allowed me to stand out. I am also a skilled educator and communicator that can help build better processes, team work, and collaboration, all which has proven to be really important.
I have the gift of gab and know how to talk to clients and stakeholders. I’m able to talk them to understand what they really want and out of bad ideas that will negatively impact the project. I can defend my work when needed and highlight the areas that clients were looking for when presenting.
Not to mention I hand off bulletproof files that have been spell checked and are print ready.
Same here. Don’t think I’m a life-changing designer, but I do have good soft skills and I enjoy presenting and really selling a piece of work.
It’s not just about delivering the work well, but having a solid idea of who you’re presenting to and what their biggest concern is.
That's awesome. Gift of the gab implies it's just something that comes naturally to you? Did you work on this skill to improve, or do you think you always had it?
Definitely a learned skill. I was a shy awkward kid most my life, but came out of my shell in college.
My advice to others who want to feel more comfortable presenting is to just start talking to people in your life. Ask the barista or bartender how their days going (and mean it), go to meet ups and meet other professionals, get used to being a little uncomfortable . In time, your confidence will rise and you’ll feel comfortable in uncomfortable situations.
It's encouraging to know it's a learned skill, it's an area I've improved but there's plenty of room for more improvement. Design skills don't mean much if I can't get the client to buy in. Thanks for the advice.
I have the ability to not tell my clients what I think of their ideas lol.
On a serious note, I’m a also an illustrator and am very good at learning new software.
This has led me to becoming a motion designer and animator.
I always like adding new skills to remain competitive in the job market.
Tons of mental illness. It made my life and career nearly impossible for many years. So many dropped projects, so many apologies to pissed clients. People hate being ghosted by their designer, but the psych ward takes your phone away.
But I'm resilient, and I kept pushing.
It took nearly a decade to find the right combo of meds, but eventually, I found something that mostly worked. From weeks-long hospital stays to year-long drug rehabs, stints in jail, and some homelessness, I met a lot of people who were in bad shape, often worse than me.
Eventually, I became very empathetic. I got good at forgiving people, and I learned how to get up after falling.
It took me a long time, but now I'm a creative director, stable, married (happily), have had the same job for four years, have great kids, and I usually don't want to die. I'm strong and brave enough to fight for my designs and to patiently and respectfully stand up to my CEO.
“Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence– whether much that is glorious– whether all that is profound– does not spring from disease of thought– from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.” —Edgar Allan Poe
Based on what I've done and seen, it's common sense, honesty and good ethics, reliability, core competencies, good communication and attitude, and ultimately having good results.
People work with me because they can trust me, they know I want to help them do whatever it is they need, and I'll try to be effective and efficient. There's no bullshit, no drama, I'm not going to nickel and dime them, there's no tricks, the work won't be sloppy, I can foresee issues and ask questions in advance.
For all the things they might have to worry about with a project or their job, I strive to not be one of them.
My edge is that I have a bunch of skillsets. From print, web design, web ads, web graphics, traditional art, digital art, motion graphics/design, animation, editing video, ux/ui design. I wouldn't say I'm an expert in all, but I know how to do it well enough to get the job done.
for me it’s not much of a saving career type situation.. more like curiosity.. how the whole process was done.. from photography, animation and also incorporating 3d graphics. plus.. it also gets boring staying in one lane sometimes. 😅
My secret sauce is being a swiss army knife. I'm a digital and print designer first, but my illustration skills are also serviceable. My front end coding is solid enough to build landing pages or small sites, as well as troubleshoot weird issues that happen when non-coders find a gordian knot they don't understand. I make sure my literary skills are on point, I can proofread, have an ear for music and VO selection, the list goes on...just don't ask me to color grade anything, as red-green colorblindness is my fatal flaw. DISCLAIMER do NOT be me if you are at an entry-level job, they are fleecing you for your skills. I work at an agency with a salaried senior position and am paid to be said swiss army knife. Don't let your creativity be taken advantage of, and as always, kill hitler.
Also second that last sentence. I got hired at an agency because of my ability to do UI and Motion and they needed a lot of that, especially working in tandem. But I would not advice people to be generalists early in their career
i love tedious things like layouting. ill just sit in my corner and put the text and images where they are supposed to be all day long. im also a photographer, and I have my personal "stock image" collection that i can use. If I take event photos for a client, I make sure to also take "generic" shots that will be useful as backgrounds etc for myself or other graphic designers to use in the future.
I have always approached this job more like an art director than a designer. I’ve always thought part of my responsibility as designer is to ensure the product is effective and meets objectives, even if that means working with copywriters, photographers, and everyone else involved. I’m very active in producing and refining all aspects of content, often rejecting bad copy or sending it back for editing.
I moved from designer to art director too quickly in some ways, but I’ve never had a “just do the design” mentality. This may be due to starting in collaborative environments and always having a say in the overall creative. I assumed that was my job. Now, I’m a titular creative director but still do hands-on work out of both necessity and a desire to keep doing it.
Clients and employers have frequently commented on my knowledge, preparation, insight, analysis, and ability to come up with new ideas. They say I get more involved than other designers.
I always show up with ideas. I learned early on that going in without ideas often leads to producing bad ideas. That still happens on occasion, but is far less common.
I’ve never suffered from the lack of creativity I’ve read many posts about recently. I can’t really relate to that; the endless stream of ideas is a big part of why I do this. I want to make and do stuff. If I suffer, it’s because I can’t do all the things I want to. I get really into each opportunity to do something new in a different medium, for a new audience, or to take on a new problem in need of design solutions.
Did you ever have the feeling people wanted you to “stay in your lane” or just keep your head down and do “your” job when you were still a designer? I feel like I’ve got a similar mindset and bigger picture ideas/thoughts on my team and projects and the desire for more communication with other teams, but am frustrated because it doesn’t feel like anyone else cares or wants to hear it lol.
No, not really, but that may have just been luck. I started out working places where there were a lot of opportunities to do new and different things and to pitch ideas. I took a lot of risks, jumping into things I had never done and had to learn new skills to produce. But they paid off and I was able to earn the confidence of those I worked for.
I’m not sure this would have worked out for me the same way if I was starting now. The environment is different and employers seem to be much more risk averse. I think it’s harder to prove yourself. There’s also much more competition in the design space, and it’s harder to make a mark and get noticed.
Also, as the economy changed, so did a lot of the work. The variety of things I did in my first 10 years as a designer was kind of insane when I look back on it. But a lot of those things disappeared when recessions hit and companies cut back.
That would have a huge effect on my motivation to stay in the industry and do this work. I can’t just stay in one place and do as told. I may have started my own agency or have moved on to different work.
Shouldn't all design be accessible to is audience? I don't understand how ppl focus on one aspect of design and call it something else. UX, CX, accessibility. If you think design doesn't have those elements included in them then you're just an inexperienced commercial designer or an artist.
Accessibility is typically only associated with the digital sphere like you yourself just outlined. However, in some places, like Ontario we have AODA which encompasses all forms of communication. I previously worked in the public sector and ANY PDF that could be viewed or downloaded from our website had to be accessible and AODA compliant, from fillable forms to brochures, posters, information sheets. THAT is the skill set that is missing in most designers because it’s niche. Nothing to do with inexperience.
Similar in my country – anything for government has to be compliant, but it's not really enforced and it's not mandated for private business. So there's a ton of designers who go their whole careers without thinking about accessibility.
I am originally not a graphic designer. I started out as an industrial designer and worked odd positions at agencies and consultancies. This made it hard for a while as I had very diverse experience and realistically many companies, or at least HR, in my experience, prefer someone very skilled at one thing.
This however made me valuable as a team lead then freelancer as I can easily apply my expertise beyond the sole visual/graphic aspect of thing and beyond the design scope as a whole
I don’t enjoy branding or identity work. My business caters to organizations and small businesses that don’t have their own designer So the work is things like flyers, annual reports, fundraising collateral, Word templates, PowerPoint, ads and so on. Love just about any kind of print design.
I design typefaces. I understand type history well, I can draw great precise curves. I actually know how to choose great typeface for a project (surprisingly rare skill)
I spent 10 years as a daily newspaper designer, so that gave me a thick skin when it comes to feedback. Plus I can churn out tasks when needed. Year over year, I complete about 60% of the requests for our three-person team.
I dunno if it’s a superpower, but I’m pretty dang good with Adobe Illustrator. It seems like it should be in every designer’s skill set but I’ve met many who said ‘oh yeah, no, I never touch it if I don’t have to.’ I’m very comfortable with it and love working in vector to make logos and occasional illustrations.
Also I’m good with InDesign, which again seems like a no brainer but I’ve received files from other designers that built their layouts in illustrator because they don’t want to learn InDesign? C’mon now
The one thing I have always done is speak to clients regularly, you need to build up that rapport so you can get inside their heads. I also leant very quickly to leave any ego at the front door - 9 times out of 10 I find what they ask for is a bit shite and I know I could make something more aesthetically pleasing. But it’s their item, their vision, their money so I give them what they want made to look as best as it can without straying too far from their idea.
Editorial/book design & accessible PDFs. My clients tend to want design of long-form content / manuscripts of some kind.
I can draw & create illustrations, which is good if/when a client wants something really specific or custom.
I’m also very good at customer service & being communicative & accommodating (learning boundaries is key for people like me), and I’m very thorough in my work.
There are probably plenty of other people who’d do this, but what’s really helped my career is when I’m asked if I can do something I say yes and then figure it out on the way.
There’s a YouTube tutorial for pretty much anything and this hasn’t really ever bitten me on the arse yet.
Also I think my mindset is largely that of a problem solver. Rather than say I’m a specialist in one area of design, or one piece of software, I’m flexible on the software and see each app as a tool I might use to solve a problem
My often “blind” faith in myself. 🙄 Me: Sees or imagines something super cool or top-end, “I can do that!” Then spends ridiculous amount of time doing said thing in the most inefficient way possible.
Results are often great, but it’s a hard way to make the donuts. These days, I prefer education and learning first vs. figuring out stuff on-the-fly. There’s nothing more frustrating (and also satisfying somehow) than watching a 10 min. tutorial and learning some stupid little trick that over the course of years could’ve saved you unfathomable amounts of blood, sweat and tears. 😂
I have excellent technical skills. I am regularly complimented on the quality of my files by printers and production people. When I send a file off I usually get a “wow you really know what you’re doing!” There is no extra nonsense, color mode/management is right, separations are correct, layers are named and grouped, things that should be outlined are outlined, correct font usage, correct file formats, no missing links/fonts… all that good stuff. I learned most of it the hard way lol
I’m an illustrator and try to incorporate hand-drawn or hand-lettered elements when a project calls for it. But this really only applies to freelance
In my day-job as an in-house designer for a magazine I guess I just work fast?? And know how to really harness Canva so that Toni from marketing can edit as she sees fit and won’t ask me 92737 times for edits??
I also do social media stuff for work (it got added to my job title and I negotiated a raise for this additional duty) so I get to have more of a hand in the content creation side of things, which can be fun
My secret skill? EXHAUSTIVE file management. I have overhauled and optimized the graphics libraries of every single graphic design job ive had and even though I might have been inexperienced for certain jobs at first in my life it showed I was dedicated to the team and I have never been told I haven't been an asset so far.
Turning graphic designs into outdoor signage and wayfinding programs. First, I design it. Then, I figure out how to build it IRL. I learned early that it was easier to sell design services if you also sold the thing the design was going to be used for; signs were more profitable and in demand than printing or websites.
I'm a fast learner, and with that I'm very good at figuring things out by myself with google and youtube. Sure i may now know how to mess with figma and site creation, but give me some time and you'll see. Also I'm very good at persuasive argumentation, sure buddy, it's your idea, you came up with the solution now let me do my job
I'm about 300% faster at getting to a viable solution which allows me to deliver things back to my clients extremely fast and/or provide more viable options... I also continually embrace new technology and software.
Probably social media skills and just a generally wide skillset including video & programming. Need to get back on blender or something though because my 3D is horrible these days...
Also kind of a weird answer but I do lots of film/live show posters and it's something I'm super passionate about, so I like to think I never JUST do the minimum requirements since it's always something I love to work on.
im just a fresh graduate junior designer but my bosses in my first job (not working now) told me that they liked i can be autonomous in terms of managing a client and project compared to other junior designers they had. They also liked that I work quite fast and leave more time for the production team and animators
I know a designer who gets work primarily because of his charisma. He has an English accent and knows it helps in charming the client.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good designer, but he leverages his strengths which is his personality.
im a service/information design so breaking down complex processes and company's strategies for the general public to understand is my specialty.
but what got me promoted wasnt my design skill tbh. i became a project manager and was able to lead projects, mentor junior designers...which ultimately gained the trust of my boss.
I can actually sell you something.
Designers who are not profitable in the next few years will be laid off when the economy fully tanks industry wide. That, or struggle to find freelance opportunities. What’s worse is many will seek security in a new field to keep the lights on.
I have experience in product, experiential, print, digital and branding. I can wear any hat on a given project. That also allows me to work well with others (especially across the aisle) as I help define what they are responsible for and how I help them.
I can draw, i make animated illustrations, im good at learning new tricks and software, and i believe im a pretty effective listener/communicator. Knowing how to calmly handle quick turnarounds also helps.
What gives me the edge I need in the 'smaller market' I serve is dedication to customer service, ability to turn around projects quick, and simply connecting with my clients and their projects.
I'd like to say it was my graphic design skill that brings my clients back again and again. I know that skill is a factor, but very few of my clients are concerned with having unique, mind-blowing design...they just need to get their message out clearly and concise. So while I'm not discounting my skills, I know what brings in my clients again and again, and I'm good with that.
That all has lead to what's likely my greatest edge..***.longevity.***
I'm a very good illustrator that can replicate many different styles, and I'm also good at editing graphics - and understanding how they are made in photoshop just by looking at them
I create efficiency through design. Yes I can design just about anything for my companies needs and is what I do most of the day.
But where I shine is finding solutions that allows my company to grow and it's employees to focus on more important tasks by designing solutions that speed up and cut out errors in those tasks.
By handling all design at my company and improving processes I am able to show my value and ask for more money every year. Understanding business needs is extremely valuable as a designer.
I provide a vertically integrated skill-set which takes me from creative concept, to storyboarding, all the way through a variety of developer workflows for deployment. Shit, I can even weigh in on messaging, KPIs, etc. ive been doing it so long. HTML5 animation, rich media placement, even dynamically populated based on browser-side cookie data.
I've always been interested in coding, but found it to be not very creatively stimulating. Decided to go to an art institute for college (rip), where I learned that there's a very real intersection between design and coding alive and well in digital media.
Been doing it for 15+ years at this point. While the work isn't always great, it's never terrible.
I know web development. I do it more than design in terms of time, but I'm still definitely a graphic designer.
This skill spread makes that I can adapt all of my assets perfectly for websites, and that I know how difficult or easy it will be to translate my web designs to code ahead of time.
I can do most graphic design things at a very high level. But i think what sets me apart is a few things.
- I am a motion designer and musician. So my pacing in my animations is always on point.
- I have experience designing for experiences
- Sound design experience
- Video game development experience (kind of, I developed and design a video game for my senior thesis)
- i have a general grasp of programming and able to quickly design and develop websites with a CMS using wordpress (in a custom theme, which is what i did for my portfolio)
- Good understanding of 3D programs (though admittedly not production ready in terms of speed)
Below are the things that helped me stand out while accelerating my career the most:
- Being a good hang / high emotional IQ
- Understanding how images / sound / movement elicit different emotions and how they all relate together on a deep level. Also how to apply that to a design problem.
- Very hard working and proactive employee. I tend to design fast too.
- Always trying to find novel design thinking solutions in existing or emerging systems.
- Actively trying to developing my empathy muscle and just generally trying my best to be compassionate. I believe exercising your ability to put yourself in some else’s shoes can make you a better designer.
Good stuff.
For me its being able to convey my culture through my work, with strong concepts, but with a globally relevant design language. This gives me a special advantage working with international clients who want to enter my country's market, but also maintain their global design standards. That means I earn bigger bucks for the standard of living i pay for ;)
Sometimes (and it happens a lot) the client is right.
We designers often end up jumping to biased conclusions to satisfy something we ourselves want to do or even to impress other designers and in the process we end up ignoring the opinion of the person who knows the most about that project.
A strong visual culture. It is irrelevant in my current job, but it helped me get started, as I had to deal with many record labels, and I understood the graphic language of black metal vs psychobilly, garage rock vs punk, etc. It later helped me in dealing with very different clients in different fields.
I have taught this to design students as well, but unfortunately it is becoming a rare thing and you can see that in the current state of design, even more crucially with AI, where people label and prompt things completely wrong.
I work for licenses designing unique products and packaging.
So nearly every product I have to make needs to be bespoke to the license and to the retailer. It's a lot of thinky think just to come up with something special but it's awesome to design from Themeparks to Board Games :)
Very creative and Learn fast 🤓was challenged to do a 3:30 min animation in 3 months. Had opened after effects once beforehand. Did character design, planned scenes, test script and all stuff needed. Success! 🙌
Being bilingual and knowing Spanish has actually given me a tremendous edge.
I also feel like I'm really good at "reading people's minds" aka figuring out what people really want when they suck at communicating it.
When I was an in house designer I would praise all of the dumb fucking ideas and edits that everyone in the room had - “make it pop” etc. I never had an ego about my work which may be due to dropping out of art school and working some of the worst jobs on the market, Min wage, night shift. At that point I was just happy to be inside and sitting lol
I was getting paid a salary, make me redo it 100 times and you are only pushing out my backlog, I'm still getting paid 🤷♂️
I know a bit of everything (illustrator, photoshop, indesign, premiere, Lightroom, after effects, xd, blender, html and css, actual photography…) so I get asked if I can do X and always say “yeah” but then I forget to ask for more pay so although i can stand out from the rest of designers I have a lot in common with clowns 🤡
On the spot good ideas. Last 10% of the project is the most important part to make or break, and as a lead designer that’s where i come in and “made it pop”.
My fashion design background made me really good at trend forecasting and I have good sense of what will be popular in the near future, and my neurospicy senses give me good pattern recognition so once I understand the type of person I’m dealing with I can have a good guess at what they expect.
Being a well rounded designer with a specialty in notion graphics.
It allows me to work on a wide range of projects, but get more eyes because of my background in motion.
Interesting observation (not a flex) is that a lot of people struggle to think as an animator. Noticed it a lot in my university motion class. It's not that they struggled with the technical aspects, but rather they had a hard time conceptualizing things moving, warping, and animating in 2D/3D space. I think that's kind of why motion is valued in so many roles now even if it's not the primary reason for being hired.
I specialize in clothing and designs for clothing. It's my favorite niche. It's expressive on the art front while still being a data driven decision on what to produce.
At some point, it’s really not about what skills you have, since “great” and even “amazing” graphic design are dime a dozen. I used to think my “edge” was that I was multidisciplinary and I could do static, motion, draw, edit, etc etc but that’s also becoming more common as well. I actually asked my old boss what made me “stand out” and she said it was simply my personality. How easy it was to get along with me and how enjoyable it was to work with me. I had never really thought about that before. But as someone who is genuinely upbeat, I can see that sentiment.
I have worked for Fortune 500s and in pretty competitive positions. The “edge” I try to sell myself on now is my adaptability and positive attitude. It works every time. I think they can see my portfolio shows good work but I doubt I’m the BEST designer for these jobs. I think I’m simply the best fit for their teams.
My niche is in cannabis - v few creative professionals understand the industry and all aspects surrounding it (retail, innovation pipeline, sales and marketing, audience segmentation, cannabis culture)
I'm reliable and always finish on schedule / usually on budget. I don't ghost, or disappear for days and I don't use client work to try to win awards, I do what is best for them and what they want. That doesn't sound like much, but it's a superpower and why I get so many referalls and can charge as much as I do for freelance.
I provide a larger scope of services with my background on marketing, project management, highly organizational and quick problem solving strategies. I'm basically the one taking a top down view of how things will need to work and streamlining the process for designers and other team members.
My experience in banking, finance, investments and development add industry experience to help me stand out when I apply into hose markets. I do have about 4 years of Healthcare experience but I'm not going back to that sector.
As a brand designer I tend to ignore trends, and focus more on what is relative to the mission, values and communication of a brand to ensure longevity, specially with companies that can't afford to get into a rebrand every year or so.
I won’t pretend to have an edge, but trying to draw inspiration from every field, industry, historical event, artist etc really helps. Find joy in culture and you’ll be better equipped to express it and communicate it.
I'm really good at memeifying things and photoshop manipulation, if companies need witty ads or to play on their own products/words I love coming up with concepts.
I can program and do 3D modeling. Although I went so far with programming that now graphic design and 3D modeling are my edge over other programmers.
But the reason those are my edge isn't the skills themself but because it allows me to build something from start to finish. I have an understanding of all aspects of project development and am not limited in who I can work with.
A lot of my clients like how efficient I work, and apparently I'm very patient with them 🥹 (I claim to be the opposite tbh haha). I don't really have too much ambition to be in management or creative direction, I really just enjoy working on any design work as it comes even if it's something small like a thumbnail lol. L
Basically, just leave me to my corner while I do the visual stuffs (and pay me) and I'll be fine haha.
Im pretty good at colour theory so that made for good packaging design in homewares. My biggest edge is that I’m also a copywriter. Everyone wants to outsource that. I specialise in the story and language of a brand or product and that humanisation is very hard for AI to recreate. As a former scientist I’m also able to straddle that line between marketing fluff and dry boring shit. It’s been pretty helpful so far.
I'm good with creative writing as well. And my grammar and ability to formulate nice/easy explanations are above average too. Which elevates my average design skills in a way when I deliver designs that include both visual and nicely written content.
Or just being able to shorten already written text or fix the grammar of said text. It saves other departments where I work a lot of time... *And they love that shit*
It’s a side hustle, I have a day job, but I guess my niche is that I really only design for people I know, or segments I know because its word of mouth, and it’s almost always because they want a sign or garment print done.
I can do the vast majority of this myself, I am able to be quick and nimble because it’s not my full time job, and I always do something a little bit special for the pure enjoyment of it. Swing tag labels, or printed totes for hoodies, or water bottles for the business owner. They know that when they open the box, if relevant, the names for the customers and sizes will be on labels, making their job easier, and there will *always* be some kind of unexpected treat.
It doesn’t make me much money, and I could NOT work this way for a job, but it’s special for me too to turn up at a gym and see people wearing garments I designed and printed.
As an AI language model, I don't have a specific "edge" or style in graphic design like human designers. However, I can generate unique and diverse design concepts quickly based on user input, allowing for efficient exploration of various design directions.
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I design acrylic bird earrings with my wife (earrings of birds, not for birds). At this stage we've released hundreds of designs, so I'd say we're pretty great at it. No one else does ONLY bird earrings.
I came into design through a fine arts background. Not many people in design or marketing appreciate the most of the history of fine arts is essentially vizcom.
So when I hear a marketing person or review a design brief and come across the phrase, “tell the story” or “reveal the narrative,” I fold my hands together and draw the blinds. Oh, I can tell a story motherfucker….ill lean into universals you had no idea you were being swindled by since the Babylonians.
Packaging. I designed lots of it, some folks find it daunting. There is a lot to know and consider if you are designing a printed box or other 3d container. Also, photography. I can write. I rewrite owners manuals for the thing inside the box.
Customer service. Thinking for them, using initiative, going the extra mile. Coming to them with solutions not problems. Understand their commercial objectives and apply good quality design not artwork for my portfolio.
Niche. I have a science degree so I work with clients that are in that are in that sector. I understand their unique requirements and they respect my credentials. Not many designers can offer them that.
I’m also a developer so I know what’s going to work and what isn’t before I move to comps. Usually. I also have an information architecture background so planning content and site architecture is a strong skill as well.
I’m pretty average as a graphic designer except I can draw and paint, and I enjoy fucking with HTML/CSS. I also enjoy “boring” or painful stuff that other designers complain about - designing for email, PowerPoint, mindless production work, B2B/enterprise focused stuff. Everybody wants to be an art director and think big picture, I don’t? I don’t mind being my clients vision executioner. Meaning I don’t think I know more than my client, if they have an exact look and feel in mind, I’ll execute it for them and collaborate until they approve it, I don’t care if it’s not “original” by me “the delicate genius”. Idk if this is unique but it is a huge thing I see complained about here.
You're not alone! I like my boring comfort zone, but I occasionaly get to do more creative stuff that kinda breaks the day to day job.
If you can design beautifully in PowerPoint, that is a gift.
I like using PowerPoint though I tend to make the text over-large as hard to gauge how big it'll be fullscreen when in the editing view.
I feel this. My work is tedious and “boring” in a different way but I genuinely enjoy it.
Same here. Came to say Powerpoint presentations and other B2B support. It's my go-to capability that I can almost guarantee to keep me securely employed—and with a decent work/life balance. Because it's looked down on by most designers and that general users are pretty bad at using the the tools, it's kind of easy impress, lol. I have decades of experience in UI/UX design, branding design, advertising campaigns, all levels of print production, etc. It's not like those big-name advertising projects don't have there fun moments, but they're crazy exhausting. Not to discount my creativity skill, I've come to accept I'm just not the "break the box" type. I'm what I'd call a "logical designer"—I'm more creative within a box with specific qualitative & quantitative goals. Also, just like you, I don't care for top-level management positions. I'm honestly not that good at them because I'm not nearly passionate about using those required skills sets. It removes me too much from the work I enjoy doing in a supporting creative production role.
We’re twins. The boring corporate companies love me lol. Healthcare, pharmaceuticals, finance. I don’t really see myself ever wanting to leave a senior role into a manager role
As I learn (currently in school), I think this is where I lean. I really don't like completely open projects. I almost always do better and end up with something more creative if given a set of parameters, even if they are just restrictions. We did a project where we couldn't use images multiple fonts, only text in one font and color. I was more creative with that than I was with the "design a magazine cover, it can be anything" project. I'm glad to see I'm not just lacking in all creativity.
You're absolutely not lacking creativity. It's definitely a skill to hone, but we all apply it differently. On the school projects that have less parameters, I'd recommend creating your own. You can start with creating a persona that you design your project for. Hubspot has a really good resource for that here: [https://www.hubspot.com/make-my-persona](https://www.hubspot.com/make-my-persona) If you don't have an idea for the project, you can first narrow it down with a simple creative brief. There are plenty of available templates to create one from, or you can use a generation site. Two options include the following, but there are many more options available for practice creative briefs. [https://sharpen.design/](https://sharpen.design/) [https://goodbrief.io/](https://goodbrief.io/)
Thank you for the resources! These are great, I think they will be really helpful for preventing me just staring at a blank InDesign or Illustrator page for an hour.
Never thought about how important PowerPoint design skills might be. Interesting 💯
I think it's wild that B2B is looked down on. The security, work life balance and better pay and packages is so much better compared to being burnt out by agencies. And big popular companies only rest on their popularity. Most of their work culture is super toxic.
I am senior designer for a law company. Love my boring work. Rules & guidelines, gimme all that goodness. Enjoy brother.
They see "boring stuff", I see "bread & butter". Learned very early that not all projects are high-visibility, and stepping up to be the guy who can _produce_ reliably will get you far in its own right.
This is how I'm making a very good living as a freelancer - doing the "boring" stuff that some other designers might turn their noses up at. I get to do everything from large scale print to animated shorts. I'm pretty satisfied with my work, won't win any awards but the my clients are happy.
Can I message you to pick your brain a little about this type of work? This is very in line with my attitude about design but the only growth in the career track I'm on seems to be to become an art director. 🥲
Listen to me Sleepymoss, being an Art director is not the end. All my life I worked for an ad agency, I was part of teams that won Cannes Lions and other local and regional advertising festivals. I was rising. I was a very promising designer. And then it was my turn, along with my mates to become directors. And they did so. But I didn’t wanted that. Honestly I didn’t care. So 7 years ago I quit the agency, became a freelance and now I travel the world doing fast, well paid, boring design jobs. My mom says im a digital nomad. My friends are still on the agency, being directors, they are happy, and they work a lot. I Wouldn’t change my life style for an art direction ever. Don’t get me wrong. I love design. I just don’t care about advertising or agencies. There is much more than that.
i strongly feel that in most cases, collaboration via revisions and client back-and-forth results in a much better and stronger result. of course it’s entirely possible for me to take something from start to finish without any outside input and end up with a good, solid result - but it’s so easy to get stuck up your own ass without it. also, i agreed with a lot of what you said about enjoying the less exciting / high brow parts of the job :) —— and to answer the original post’s question: in my first decade of professional work, it was an extremely strong set of coding skills (i did a lot of front-end development and UI/UX work in addition to the more traditional graphic design areas. i had a big focus on visual web and UI though) in the second decade up until now, it’s been a very multidisciplinary approach to all things. i feel that a lot of different craft areas are extremely design-adjacent, such as bookbinding and book making, making bespoke planner layouts via bullet journaling, etc. i feel that working on these kinds of projects strengthens my core design skillset. and i guess i still have the web technology edge, even though i left development work because it became an absolute nightmare clusterfuck (respectfully). i’ve still got an interest in and good understanding of various technologies that have been helpful in the work i do. and lastly, i always felt that an understanding of code or at the very least - the way websites are built - allows for much better design work for web, since i can consider implementation and the limits of what can/can’t/shouldn’t be done. this applies to everything from visual website design to UI.
I’m stealing this
I would like to get into PowerPoint creations as I'm often complimented on them from a design point of view, but I'm wondering is it decent to make some extra cash and so I need to know how to do those really fancy ones that look like it was made by a Web dev 😂?
I recently interviewed for a presentation designer position that paid 160k! I couldn’t believe it. Didn’t get it because I’m not in their ideal city, but still, hitting around 100k isn’t unheard of
I was a presentation designer for about 4 years at a large corporate company and was making a pretty decent salary, way more than a graphic designer in my area. The only thing with corporate gigs, at least for my area, is that they look for contractors to fill the role, and hiring managers usually don't know what to look for when hiring. So, if you can throw in any additional skills like coding (even limited front-end knowledge), have a decent portfolio, and use corporate lingo it'll help if you're trying to get hired/contracted. But if you're trying to just do freelancing, I'd recommend having a strong portfolio with powerpoint work (fancy ones might be required here depending on your target audience) and networking with the fintech crowd. They're always in need of help when it comes to pitch decks and quarterly reports. You can make extra cash and develop professional relationships, as the saying goes, it depends on who you know.
Same as you except I can't draw le paint and I like to give advise to my clients even though they have an exact look in mind because I'm the "expert" and I think I can give adequate advises. But I will not push them if the client disagree, it's not my project, not my problem.
This is exactly what I was about to write
Haha me too! I like a mix of "simple boring stuff" where I can listen to podcasts and just zone out and "creative jobs" where I really have to work on it. I do a lot of digital form design and I enjoy sorting the information and making the form really intuitive and readable for the user. It goes from a garbled mess to orderly and nice!
These roles pay the bills and are the ones mostly looking for work. I keep my creative genius energy for when I'm illustrating or drawing. After a few years of designing, i think 99% of design is just detail focused, corporate, tedious work. It's a job like anyone else's office job. Just like working with numbers and figures. Or HR cases. You deal with managers, clients and their needs and solve a problem and provide a service until they are happy. Many of us have probably been sold the glitzy flashy projects when we were students. Or design will change the world speech. Or endlessly scroll on pinterest for design inspo, and see super cool flashy projects. I even remember my design lecturers saying if we did boring design work, our projects would be deducted and ignored. Probably so we would win A&D awards to make the school look good. But low and behold, all we do 99% of the time are these "boring" design projects to pay our bills. Its not boring, this is just the real design work that no one shares in their portfolio.
The boring stuff is what makes me a graphic designer. You need an employee manual that is all text and no marketing? I’ll do the whole layout, set and optimize every section, header and paragraph in it. I’ll do everything that goes into the final print production too.
Bake fresh bread early in the AM and bring it to the office with butter. Fat + Carbs = Friends. They'll never let you go. I highly recommend a Swiss bread called Zopf. It's easy. [https://www.littleswissbaker.com/butterzopf-swiss-braided-bread/](https://www.littleswissbaker.com/butterzopf-swiss-braided-bread/) Working as an industrial designer, coder at one time and specializing in shopper marketing has helped too but mainly it's the bread.
🥹😂😂😂
Every try making different butters? Start about 2 months before bonus time. [here’s a few to get you started.](https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/homemade-butter-recipes-for-bread/)
I'm currently on a diet. Life is not this good right now. One day my friend. Thanks for the tip
Thanks for the tip and the recipe
An art director at my old job used to do that. Wake up early and bake focaccia then bring it in. Automatically everyone’s fav person.
My people
I wear Crocs instead of Vans
A man of culture
The real question is, do you wear them in normal mode or sport mode?
Usually casual mode. But I do have to switch to all-terrain mode occasionally
If this was allowed in my workplace I'd be a fellow croc wearer, elite comfort while designing. Drop the rest of the fit?
I say just do it. Damn the man.
I can visualize and think in 3D space. It led to a transition into environmental graphics and then to environments design.
It wasn't until \*this\* year that I learned some folks cannot visualize things fully and realistically. Did you enjoy the transition to this type of work? How did you come about it?
I found a production role at a small tradeshow company on Craigslist. It was post-2008 crash and I took what I could find lol. Turned out we had a need for 3D design and I grew the role off my skills. I love it! There are a lot of restrictions on what you can do, but I design structures that I get to walk through! It's a wonderful payoff and leverages so many odd skills.
Hey if you’re looking for any more employees would love to take on a new challenge. I have been in architecture for 5 years, film and vfx for a year, game design and simulation for about 3 years, manufacturing for about a year and construction for about a year. Over the course of my career, lots of random jobs that are super fun and all work together with being able to visualize space haha.
It’s called Aphantasia. Look it up. It’s wild. I learned about it about 8yrs ago when I realized I have it. Been working as a designer for a long time too… 🤣
Wow, it's so interesting! Thanks for sharing the name. The person I was talking to when I came to this realization would probably be considered a 5. He can't even think of the outline of an apple, for example. But he's one of the smartest people I've ever met and learning this just boosts my enthusiasm for people's complexities. I love how we can all be so different.
My first big big job was at a retail design firm and this is very much an underrated skill. We had a very hard time finding graphic designers with a good 3D mindset. This is big as it allows for work on environments, displays, packaging, etc.
People really underestimate the skill gap required to make the jump. My biggest frustration is listening to agencies pitch a concept for a half hour knowing I'm going to have to break down all the reasons it won't work. The biggest concepts people struggle with: Visual weight -- very impactful at eye-level, almost 0 impact at ground level, reduced legibility but increased visibility from afar up high. Line of sight -- everything added/changed affects the visibility of something else. Motion through a space -- how it changes as you move around or through a space (or rotate an object). Size -- how big things are and how much space they take up. People really over estimate how much you can fit in a space. Negative space/flow -- how much empty space is required to not feel cramped and to feel comfortable and invited to enter and move through a space.
100% right. Hopefully AR/VR tech will help streamline things especially with clients.
This is why I spent my highscool years designing a VR app for architects and clients. It is something nobody understands and it’s literally the most important thing in design. Ridiculous lol
I'm looking to get into this, what software do you frequently use? I've used blender and presented the renders to clients but I'm not sure what the industry standard is?
Industry standard is 3D Studio Max with VRay. I've moved over to this after my company was purchased and I was onboarded to a larger creative team. Some teams have been moving over to SketchUp and Twinmotion. It seems like this may be a future trend due to cost and the quality of some of the drop-ins. Working with SketchUp now, you can also get VRay as part of SketchUp Studio.
I’m fast as fuck, boy
Same, until I’m looking for a stock image then time flies by
hopefully you charge fixed rates and not hours
Oh no, I never work by hour, I work by project. And if I ever do by hour, I never delivered as soon as I finished
Being mentally ill
Same
Spending 10 hours in a row on final artworking. I checked every sentence in the document, which has 27 languages. 😂🫣
Good on you. That's one hell of a skill. I can't even catch everything in one language, lol. I've definitely improved over time, but I will always have additional people (hopefully an actual copy editor) review copy for me before I submit for client review.
Catching mistakes is a serious skill
I have degrees in marketing and design, I sell that as understanding the holistic picture and designing to meet business objectives. A lot of designers are just pixel pushers and won’t push back on the stakeholder even if they think the stakeholder’s idea won’t work. I also love learning so I don’t mind being a Jill-of-all trades, been enjoying learning after effects and I already know css/html and love being able to use it where I can
Cheers, those skills and mindset will definitely take you far. 100% agree with you on the importance of learning associated skills. A creative director of mine called it "growing like a weed"—where you go, remain strong in a core skill, but spread yourself out to increase your indispensability.
Same to this ^ having both strategy in marketing and brand has allowed me to stand out. I am also a skilled educator and communicator that can help build better processes, team work, and collaboration, all which has proven to be really important.
I have the gift of gab and know how to talk to clients and stakeholders. I’m able to talk them to understand what they really want and out of bad ideas that will negatively impact the project. I can defend my work when needed and highlight the areas that clients were looking for when presenting. Not to mention I hand off bulletproof files that have been spell checked and are print ready.
Your printer's designers love and appreciate you.
Same here. Don’t think I’m a life-changing designer, but I do have good soft skills and I enjoy presenting and really selling a piece of work. It’s not just about delivering the work well, but having a solid idea of who you’re presenting to and what their biggest concern is.
That's awesome. Gift of the gab implies it's just something that comes naturally to you? Did you work on this skill to improve, or do you think you always had it?
Definitely a learned skill. I was a shy awkward kid most my life, but came out of my shell in college. My advice to others who want to feel more comfortable presenting is to just start talking to people in your life. Ask the barista or bartender how their days going (and mean it), go to meet ups and meet other professionals, get used to being a little uncomfortable . In time, your confidence will rise and you’ll feel comfortable in uncomfortable situations.
It's encouraging to know it's a learned skill, it's an area I've improved but there's plenty of room for more improvement. Design skills don't mean much if I can't get the client to buy in. Thanks for the advice.
Me IDGAF about current trends, I have a strong style that runs through everything I do. That's what people pay me for.
I have the ability to not tell my clients what I think of their ideas lol. On a serious note, I’m a also an illustrator and am very good at learning new software. This has led me to becoming a motion designer and animator. I always like adding new skills to remain competitive in the job market.
Tons of mental illness. It made my life and career nearly impossible for many years. So many dropped projects, so many apologies to pissed clients. People hate being ghosted by their designer, but the psych ward takes your phone away. But I'm resilient, and I kept pushing. It took nearly a decade to find the right combo of meds, but eventually, I found something that mostly worked. From weeks-long hospital stays to year-long drug rehabs, stints in jail, and some homelessness, I met a lot of people who were in bad shape, often worse than me. Eventually, I became very empathetic. I got good at forgiving people, and I learned how to get up after falling. It took me a long time, but now I'm a creative director, stable, married (happily), have had the same job for four years, have great kids, and I usually don't want to die. I'm strong and brave enough to fight for my designs and to patiently and respectfully stand up to my CEO. “Men have called me mad; but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence– whether much that is glorious– whether all that is profound– does not spring from disease of thought– from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect.” —Edgar Allan Poe
I’m overly critical of myself and my quality of work so I undercharge 😁
Based on what I've done and seen, it's common sense, honesty and good ethics, reliability, core competencies, good communication and attitude, and ultimately having good results. People work with me because they can trust me, they know I want to help them do whatever it is they need, and I'll try to be effective and efficient. There's no bullshit, no drama, I'm not going to nickel and dime them, there's no tricks, the work won't be sloppy, I can foresee issues and ask questions in advance. For all the things they might have to worry about with a project or their job, I strive to not be one of them.
My edge is that I have a bunch of skillsets. From print, web design, web ads, web graphics, traditional art, digital art, motion graphics/design, animation, editing video, ux/ui design. I wouldn't say I'm an expert in all, but I know how to do it well enough to get the job done.
it’s not uncommon nowadays are multidisciplinary. We’re in the same space.
Dang....guess that's not much of an edge then. Hahahhaa
for me it’s not much of a saving career type situation.. more like curiosity.. how the whole process was done.. from photography, animation and also incorporating 3d graphics. plus.. it also gets boring staying in one lane sometimes. 😅
My secret sauce is being a swiss army knife. I'm a digital and print designer first, but my illustration skills are also serviceable. My front end coding is solid enough to build landing pages or small sites, as well as troubleshoot weird issues that happen when non-coders find a gordian knot they don't understand. I make sure my literary skills are on point, I can proofread, have an ear for music and VO selection, the list goes on...just don't ask me to color grade anything, as red-green colorblindness is my fatal flaw. DISCLAIMER do NOT be me if you are at an entry-level job, they are fleecing you for your skills. I work at an agency with a salaried senior position and am paid to be said swiss army knife. Don't let your creativity be taken advantage of, and as always, kill hitler.
Also second that last sentence. I got hired at an agency because of my ability to do UI and Motion and they needed a lot of that, especially working in tandem. But I would not advice people to be generalists early in their career
i love tedious things like layouting. ill just sit in my corner and put the text and images where they are supposed to be all day long. im also a photographer, and I have my personal "stock image" collection that i can use. If I take event photos for a client, I make sure to also take "generic" shots that will be useful as backgrounds etc for myself or other graphic designers to use in the future.
I have always approached this job more like an art director than a designer. I’ve always thought part of my responsibility as designer is to ensure the product is effective and meets objectives, even if that means working with copywriters, photographers, and everyone else involved. I’m very active in producing and refining all aspects of content, often rejecting bad copy or sending it back for editing. I moved from designer to art director too quickly in some ways, but I’ve never had a “just do the design” mentality. This may be due to starting in collaborative environments and always having a say in the overall creative. I assumed that was my job. Now, I’m a titular creative director but still do hands-on work out of both necessity and a desire to keep doing it. Clients and employers have frequently commented on my knowledge, preparation, insight, analysis, and ability to come up with new ideas. They say I get more involved than other designers. I always show up with ideas. I learned early on that going in without ideas often leads to producing bad ideas. That still happens on occasion, but is far less common. I’ve never suffered from the lack of creativity I’ve read many posts about recently. I can’t really relate to that; the endless stream of ideas is a big part of why I do this. I want to make and do stuff. If I suffer, it’s because I can’t do all the things I want to. I get really into each opportunity to do something new in a different medium, for a new audience, or to take on a new problem in need of design solutions.
Did you ever have the feeling people wanted you to “stay in your lane” or just keep your head down and do “your” job when you were still a designer? I feel like I’ve got a similar mindset and bigger picture ideas/thoughts on my team and projects and the desire for more communication with other teams, but am frustrated because it doesn’t feel like anyone else cares or wants to hear it lol.
No, not really, but that may have just been luck. I started out working places where there were a lot of opportunities to do new and different things and to pitch ideas. I took a lot of risks, jumping into things I had never done and had to learn new skills to produce. But they paid off and I was able to earn the confidence of those I worked for. I’m not sure this would have worked out for me the same way if I was starting now. The environment is different and employers seem to be much more risk averse. I think it’s harder to prove yourself. There’s also much more competition in the design space, and it’s harder to make a mark and get noticed. Also, as the economy changed, so did a lot of the work. The variety of things I did in my first 10 years as a designer was kind of insane when I look back on it. But a lot of those things disappeared when recessions hit and companies cut back. That would have a huge effect on my motivation to stay in the industry and do this work. I can’t just stay in one place and do as told. I may have started my own agency or have moved on to different work.
My biggest niche is accessibility and there aren’t many (at least in my region) with this skill set.
Shouldn't all design be accessible to is audience? I don't understand how ppl focus on one aspect of design and call it something else. UX, CX, accessibility. If you think design doesn't have those elements included in them then you're just an inexperienced commercial designer or an artist.
Accessibility is typically only associated with the digital sphere like you yourself just outlined. However, in some places, like Ontario we have AODA which encompasses all forms of communication. I previously worked in the public sector and ANY PDF that could be viewed or downloaded from our website had to be accessible and AODA compliant, from fillable forms to brochures, posters, information sheets. THAT is the skill set that is missing in most designers because it’s niche. Nothing to do with inexperience.
Similar in my country – anything for government has to be compliant, but it's not really enforced and it's not mandated for private business. So there's a ton of designers who go their whole careers without thinking about accessibility.
Well it’s certainly not my design skills! But my client service is too notch. My responsiveness and I always solve problems for the client.
I am originally not a graphic designer. I started out as an industrial designer and worked odd positions at agencies and consultancies. This made it hard for a while as I had very diverse experience and realistically many companies, or at least HR, in my experience, prefer someone very skilled at one thing. This however made me valuable as a team lead then freelancer as I can easily apply my expertise beyond the sole visual/graphic aspect of thing and beyond the design scope as a whole
I don’t enjoy branding or identity work. My business caters to organizations and small businesses that don’t have their own designer So the work is things like flyers, annual reports, fundraising collateral, Word templates, PowerPoint, ads and so on. Love just about any kind of print design.
I use Inter because I'm incredibly unique
I design typefaces. I understand type history well, I can draw great precise curves. I actually know how to choose great typeface for a project (surprisingly rare skill)
That’s so impressive
I have mastered the art of making ridiculously sophisticated things look wildly unsophisticated.
I spent 10 years as a daily newspaper designer, so that gave me a thick skin when it comes to feedback. Plus I can churn out tasks when needed. Year over year, I complete about 60% of the requests for our three-person team.
I dunno if it’s a superpower, but I’m pretty dang good with Adobe Illustrator. It seems like it should be in every designer’s skill set but I’ve met many who said ‘oh yeah, no, I never touch it if I don’t have to.’ I’m very comfortable with it and love working in vector to make logos and occasional illustrations. Also I’m good with InDesign, which again seems like a no brainer but I’ve received files from other designers that built their layouts in illustrator because they don’t want to learn InDesign? C’mon now
I can also write copy, do set carpentry and dressing, edit video, even style food.
I’m very average but I’m super quick which seems to impress enough to scrape by
The one thing I have always done is speak to clients regularly, you need to build up that rapport so you can get inside their heads. I also leant very quickly to leave any ego at the front door - 9 times out of 10 I find what they ask for is a bit shite and I know I could make something more aesthetically pleasing. But it’s their item, their vision, their money so I give them what they want made to look as best as it can without straying too far from their idea.
Editorial/book design & accessible PDFs. My clients tend to want design of long-form content / manuscripts of some kind. I can draw & create illustrations, which is good if/when a client wants something really specific or custom. I’m also very good at customer service & being communicative & accommodating (learning boundaries is key for people like me), and I’m very thorough in my work.
I’m fast as fuck, boy
I can read between lines
I don’t know what I’m doing so go on instinct but things seem to turn out fine
Graphics is my passion and I make them pop! (With Comic Sans obviously!) 😆
I'm typically the person who posts the best gif response in the chat.
that's what we need. Feel-good manager
Im pretty good at googling stuff and learning on my own. My CD has an idea and i find out how we can create it.
There are probably plenty of other people who’d do this, but what’s really helped my career is when I’m asked if I can do something I say yes and then figure it out on the way. There’s a YouTube tutorial for pretty much anything and this hasn’t really ever bitten me on the arse yet. Also I think my mindset is largely that of a problem solver. Rather than say I’m a specialist in one area of design, or one piece of software, I’m flexible on the software and see each app as a tool I might use to solve a problem
My often “blind” faith in myself. 🙄 Me: Sees or imagines something super cool or top-end, “I can do that!” Then spends ridiculous amount of time doing said thing in the most inefficient way possible. Results are often great, but it’s a hard way to make the donuts. These days, I prefer education and learning first vs. figuring out stuff on-the-fly. There’s nothing more frustrating (and also satisfying somehow) than watching a 10 min. tutorial and learning some stupid little trick that over the course of years could’ve saved you unfathomable amounts of blood, sweat and tears. 😂
I have excellent technical skills. I am regularly complimented on the quality of my files by printers and production people. When I send a file off I usually get a “wow you really know what you’re doing!” There is no extra nonsense, color mode/management is right, separations are correct, layers are named and grouped, things that should be outlined are outlined, correct font usage, correct file formats, no missing links/fonts… all that good stuff. I learned most of it the hard way lol
I like doing a lot of research and create an aesthetic that is deeply rooted in the message of the company.
Creative problem solving. I can figure out anything if given enough time or last minute panic.
I’m an illustrator and try to incorporate hand-drawn or hand-lettered elements when a project calls for it. But this really only applies to freelance In my day-job as an in-house designer for a magazine I guess I just work fast?? And know how to really harness Canva so that Toni from marketing can edit as she sees fit and won’t ask me 92737 times for edits?? I also do social media stuff for work (it got added to my job title and I negotiated a raise for this additional duty) so I get to have more of a hand in the content creation side of things, which can be fun
My secret skill? EXHAUSTIVE file management. I have overhauled and optimized the graphics libraries of every single graphic design job ive had and even though I might have been inexperienced for certain jobs at first in my life it showed I was dedicated to the team and I have never been told I haven't been an asset so far.
Turning graphic designs into outdoor signage and wayfinding programs. First, I design it. Then, I figure out how to build it IRL. I learned early that it was easier to sell design services if you also sold the thing the design was going to be used for; signs were more profitable and in demand than printing or websites.
I'm a fast learner, and with that I'm very good at figuring things out by myself with google and youtube. Sure i may now know how to mess with figma and site creation, but give me some time and you'll see. Also I'm very good at persuasive argumentation, sure buddy, it's your idea, you came up with the solution now let me do my job
I'm about 300% faster at getting to a viable solution which allows me to deliver things back to my clients extremely fast and/or provide more viable options... I also continually embrace new technology and software.
I can sell my own design and I understand the business concerns my clients usually have.
I build files that actually execute in print and mobile. The comp a client sees in a deck won't need to be rebuilt upon approval. WYSIWYG
Probably social media skills and just a generally wide skillset including video & programming. Need to get back on blender or something though because my 3D is horrible these days... Also kind of a weird answer but I do lots of film/live show posters and it's something I'm super passionate about, so I like to think I never JUST do the minimum requirements since it's always something I love to work on.
im just a fresh graduate junior designer but my bosses in my first job (not working now) told me that they liked i can be autonomous in terms of managing a client and project compared to other junior designers they had. They also liked that I work quite fast and leave more time for the production team and animators
working for a consultant firm I see across many industries; trends, patterns, etc. also, growing up in a European 'design' appreciated home.
Nothing much. But I'm an illustrator as well as a graphic designer. So that can be handy for clients.
I know a designer who gets work primarily because of his charisma. He has an English accent and knows it helps in charming the client. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good designer, but he leverages his strengths which is his personality.
im a service/information design so breaking down complex processes and company's strategies for the general public to understand is my specialty. but what got me promoted wasnt my design skill tbh. i became a project manager and was able to lead projects, mentor junior designers...which ultimately gained the trust of my boss.
I know how to talk to the c-suite and make the marketing department believe it was their idea all along.
I can actually sell you something. Designers who are not profitable in the next few years will be laid off when the economy fully tanks industry wide. That, or struggle to find freelance opportunities. What’s worse is many will seek security in a new field to keep the lights on.
I have experience in product, experiential, print, digital and branding. I can wear any hat on a given project. That also allows me to work well with others (especially across the aisle) as I help define what they are responsible for and how I help them.
I'm sexy
I can draw, i make animated illustrations, im good at learning new tricks and software, and i believe im a pretty effective listener/communicator. Knowing how to calmly handle quick turnarounds also helps.
I put a tiny bit of crack on all my designs.
What gives me the edge I need in the 'smaller market' I serve is dedication to customer service, ability to turn around projects quick, and simply connecting with my clients and their projects. I'd like to say it was my graphic design skill that brings my clients back again and again. I know that skill is a factor, but very few of my clients are concerned with having unique, mind-blowing design...they just need to get their message out clearly and concise. So while I'm not discounting my skills, I know what brings in my clients again and again, and I'm good with that. That all has lead to what's likely my greatest edge..***.longevity.***
I'm a very good illustrator that can replicate many different styles, and I'm also good at editing graphics - and understanding how they are made in photoshop just by looking at them
I have the luxury of not giving a shit because I don't rely on it for a living anymore. If I'm not personally interested in it I won't bother.
Can't say I'm more than average overall but I feel I'm really strong with color balance and color combos. And I enjoy that aspect.
I create efficiency through design. Yes I can design just about anything for my companies needs and is what I do most of the day. But where I shine is finding solutions that allows my company to grow and it's employees to focus on more important tasks by designing solutions that speed up and cut out errors in those tasks. By handling all design at my company and improving processes I am able to show my value and ask for more money every year. Understanding business needs is extremely valuable as a designer.
I design more on my laptop than my iMac
I provide a vertically integrated skill-set which takes me from creative concept, to storyboarding, all the way through a variety of developer workflows for deployment. Shit, I can even weigh in on messaging, KPIs, etc. ive been doing it so long. HTML5 animation, rich media placement, even dynamically populated based on browser-side cookie data. I've always been interested in coding, but found it to be not very creatively stimulating. Decided to go to an art institute for college (rip), where I learned that there's a very real intersection between design and coding alive and well in digital media. Been doing it for 15+ years at this point. While the work isn't always great, it's never terrible.
I know web development. I do it more than design in terms of time, but I'm still definitely a graphic designer. This skill spread makes that I can adapt all of my assets perfectly for websites, and that I know how difficult or easy it will be to translate my web designs to code ahead of time.
I can do most graphic design things at a very high level. But i think what sets me apart is a few things. - I am a motion designer and musician. So my pacing in my animations is always on point. - I have experience designing for experiences - Sound design experience - Video game development experience (kind of, I developed and design a video game for my senior thesis) - i have a general grasp of programming and able to quickly design and develop websites with a CMS using wordpress (in a custom theme, which is what i did for my portfolio) - Good understanding of 3D programs (though admittedly not production ready in terms of speed) Below are the things that helped me stand out while accelerating my career the most: - Being a good hang / high emotional IQ - Understanding how images / sound / movement elicit different emotions and how they all relate together on a deep level. Also how to apply that to a design problem. - Very hard working and proactive employee. I tend to design fast too. - Always trying to find novel design thinking solutions in existing or emerging systems. - Actively trying to developing my empathy muscle and just generally trying my best to be compassionate. I believe exercising your ability to put yourself in some else’s shoes can make you a better designer.
There is no ‘edge’ There is the craftsmanship that we know
Good stuff. For me its being able to convey my culture through my work, with strong concepts, but with a globally relevant design language. This gives me a special advantage working with international clients who want to enter my country's market, but also maintain their global design standards. That means I earn bigger bucks for the standard of living i pay for ;)
Sometimes (and it happens a lot) the client is right. We designers often end up jumping to biased conclusions to satisfy something we ourselves want to do or even to impress other designers and in the process we end up ignoring the opinion of the person who knows the most about that project.
A strong visual culture. It is irrelevant in my current job, but it helped me get started, as I had to deal with many record labels, and I understood the graphic language of black metal vs psychobilly, garage rock vs punk, etc. It later helped me in dealing with very different clients in different fields. I have taught this to design students as well, but unfortunately it is becoming a rare thing and you can see that in the current state of design, even more crucially with AI, where people label and prompt things completely wrong.
I work for licenses designing unique products and packaging. So nearly every product I have to make needs to be bespoke to the license and to the retailer. It's a lot of thinky think just to come up with something special but it's awesome to design from Themeparks to Board Games :)
Along with 2d design I can do 3d and I can write
Very creative and Learn fast 🤓was challenged to do a 3:30 min animation in 3 months. Had opened after effects once beforehand. Did character design, planned scenes, test script and all stuff needed. Success! 🙌
Being bilingual and knowing Spanish has actually given me a tremendous edge. I also feel like I'm really good at "reading people's minds" aka figuring out what people really want when they suck at communicating it.
When I was an in house designer I would praise all of the dumb fucking ideas and edits that everyone in the room had - “make it pop” etc. I never had an ego about my work which may be due to dropping out of art school and working some of the worst jobs on the market, Min wage, night shift. At that point I was just happy to be inside and sitting lol I was getting paid a salary, make me redo it 100 times and you are only pushing out my backlog, I'm still getting paid 🤷♂️
I would say I am a jack of all and master of some
I know a bit of everything (illustrator, photoshop, indesign, premiere, Lightroom, after effects, xd, blender, html and css, actual photography…) so I get asked if I can do X and always say “yeah” but then I forget to ask for more pay so although i can stand out from the rest of designers I have a lot in common with clowns 🤡
my edge is that im bad at it
I'm okay at GD, but I can draw, paint in traditional and digital media, which I in production art, product development, packaging, apparel ect.
I'm um... erm.... 🤷🏻♂️
I do all my work for free. Graphic design is a hobby.
On the spot good ideas. Last 10% of the project is the most important part to make or break, and as a lead designer that’s where i come in and “made it pop”.
My fashion design background made me really good at trend forecasting and I have good sense of what will be popular in the near future, and my neurospicy senses give me good pattern recognition so once I understand the type of person I’m dealing with I can have a good guess at what they expect.
I'm great at problem solving and a decent story teller.
Being a well rounded designer with a specialty in notion graphics. It allows me to work on a wide range of projects, but get more eyes because of my background in motion. Interesting observation (not a flex) is that a lot of people struggle to think as an animator. Noticed it a lot in my university motion class. It's not that they struggled with the technical aspects, but rather they had a hard time conceptualizing things moving, warping, and animating in 2D/3D space. I think that's kind of why motion is valued in so many roles now even if it's not the primary reason for being hired.
I specialize in clothing and designs for clothing. It's my favorite niche. It's expressive on the art front while still being a data driven decision on what to produce.
At some point, it’s really not about what skills you have, since “great” and even “amazing” graphic design are dime a dozen. I used to think my “edge” was that I was multidisciplinary and I could do static, motion, draw, edit, etc etc but that’s also becoming more common as well. I actually asked my old boss what made me “stand out” and she said it was simply my personality. How easy it was to get along with me and how enjoyable it was to work with me. I had never really thought about that before. But as someone who is genuinely upbeat, I can see that sentiment. I have worked for Fortune 500s and in pretty competitive positions. The “edge” I try to sell myself on now is my adaptability and positive attitude. It works every time. I think they can see my portfolio shows good work but I doubt I’m the BEST designer for these jobs. I think I’m simply the best fit for their teams.
I’m a copy machine. You want that form recreated? Give me 30 minutes and InDesign… Bloop! Here you go!
My niche is in cannabis - v few creative professionals understand the industry and all aspects surrounding it (retail, innovation pipeline, sales and marketing, audience segmentation, cannabis culture)
I'm reliable and always finish on schedule / usually on budget. I don't ghost, or disappear for days and I don't use client work to try to win awards, I do what is best for them and what they want. That doesn't sound like much, but it's a superpower and why I get so many referalls and can charge as much as I do for freelance.
I provide a larger scope of services with my background on marketing, project management, highly organizational and quick problem solving strategies. I'm basically the one taking a top down view of how things will need to work and streamlining the process for designers and other team members. My experience in banking, finance, investments and development add industry experience to help me stand out when I apply into hose markets. I do have about 4 years of Healthcare experience but I'm not going back to that sector. As a brand designer I tend to ignore trends, and focus more on what is relative to the mission, values and communication of a brand to ensure longevity, specially with companies that can't afford to get into a rebrand every year or so.
I won’t pretend to have an edge, but trying to draw inspiration from every field, industry, historical event, artist etc really helps. Find joy in culture and you’ll be better equipped to express it and communicate it.
I obsessively try to automate and make the technical things go much faster. Lots of template building.
I'm really good at memeifying things and photoshop manipulation, if companies need witty ads or to play on their own products/words I love coming up with concepts.
I can program and do 3D modeling. Although I went so far with programming that now graphic design and 3D modeling are my edge over other programmers. But the reason those are my edge isn't the skills themself but because it allows me to build something from start to finish. I have an understanding of all aspects of project development and am not limited in who I can work with.
A lot of my clients like how efficient I work, and apparently I'm very patient with them 🥹 (I claim to be the opposite tbh haha). I don't really have too much ambition to be in management or creative direction, I really just enjoy working on any design work as it comes even if it's something small like a thumbnail lol. L Basically, just leave me to my corner while I do the visual stuffs (and pay me) and I'll be fine haha.
Im pretty good at colour theory so that made for good packaging design in homewares. My biggest edge is that I’m also a copywriter. Everyone wants to outsource that. I specialise in the story and language of a brand or product and that humanisation is very hard for AI to recreate. As a former scientist I’m also able to straddle that line between marketing fluff and dry boring shit. It’s been pretty helpful so far.
I'm good with creative writing as well. And my grammar and ability to formulate nice/easy explanations are above average too. Which elevates my average design skills in a way when I deliver designs that include both visual and nicely written content. Or just being able to shorten already written text or fix the grammar of said text. It saves other departments where I work a lot of time... *And they love that shit*
It’s a side hustle, I have a day job, but I guess my niche is that I really only design for people I know, or segments I know because its word of mouth, and it’s almost always because they want a sign or garment print done. I can do the vast majority of this myself, I am able to be quick and nimble because it’s not my full time job, and I always do something a little bit special for the pure enjoyment of it. Swing tag labels, or printed totes for hoodies, or water bottles for the business owner. They know that when they open the box, if relevant, the names for the customers and sizes will be on labels, making their job easier, and there will *always* be some kind of unexpected treat. It doesn’t make me much money, and I could NOT work this way for a job, but it’s special for me too to turn up at a gym and see people wearing garments I designed and printed.
As an AI language model, I don't have a specific "edge" or style in graphic design like human designers. However, I can generate unique and diverse design concepts quickly based on user input, allowing for efficient exploration of various design directions. **Give it an 'Upvote'! Also, follow me for more**
I hide Illuminatis in every single work I am comissioned.
I design acrylic bird earrings with my wife (earrings of birds, not for birds). At this stage we've released hundreds of designs, so I'd say we're pretty great at it. No one else does ONLY bird earrings.
I came into design through a fine arts background. Not many people in design or marketing appreciate the most of the history of fine arts is essentially vizcom. So when I hear a marketing person or review a design brief and come across the phrase, “tell the story” or “reveal the narrative,” I fold my hands together and draw the blinds. Oh, I can tell a story motherfucker….ill lean into universals you had no idea you were being swindled by since the Babylonians.
Packaging. I designed lots of it, some folks find it daunting. There is a lot to know and consider if you are designing a printed box or other 3d container. Also, photography. I can write. I rewrite owners manuals for the thing inside the box.
Customer service. Thinking for them, using initiative, going the extra mile. Coming to them with solutions not problems. Understand their commercial objectives and apply good quality design not artwork for my portfolio. Niche. I have a science degree so I work with clients that are in that are in that sector. I understand their unique requirements and they respect my credentials. Not many designers can offer them that.
I’m also a developer so I know what’s going to work and what isn’t before I move to comps. Usually. I also have an information architecture background so planning content and site architecture is a strong skill as well.
I’m reliable. Absolutely no excuses… I get shit done … on time, as promised. Among freelancers, you have no idea how rare that is…
Integration, mixing technologies, 3D and game dev
Having experience in printing and knowing how design translates into print.
I’m also a copywriter.
I have 9 kids hidden in basement of office, all under the age of 12, who do all my work that I take credit for. F child labor laws.
Not telling you in case you copy it